Brian talks to Todd Sledge at the Cincinnati VA

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Care. You know that, BrianThomas SAMs do I have care? Soe
you certainly care about the American veteransand to join the program to pass along
some love for the American veterans.Our friend from the CINCINNTI the A.
Todd Sledge. Todd, welcome backman, Happy Monday and happy April first.
Yeah, good morning to you Brianas well. And it seems it
seems not odd but unusual in Aprilfirst is always on a Monday. First,

(00:22):
It is on a Monday, notalways on a Monday. Yeah,
no doubt about it. And ofcourse, time, man, I'm talking
the passage of time is just blowingmy mind. I know it's the other
day another month. You know.My daughter and boyfriend just closed on their
house a week or so ago andthey moved out, or for the most
part, moved out on Saturday.And I'm like, my son's going to
be thirty in June. My daughter'sgoing to be twenty eight in this month.

(00:47):
I'm getting old And where did thattime go? Todd? It's just
anyway, not to my laments.Let's get onto the via. What's going
on with the VA Paktack. Iunderstand that they've expanded this. Yeah,
Brian, this is again I've beentalking about this regularly with your with your
listeners because it's just instrumental that whatthe Packed Act has done. And now

(01:07):
a couple of weeks ago March fifth, actually the VA expanded the Packed Act
under the section one of three ofthis law, where they were going to
be working on this expansion through incrementsthrough the next coming ten years, but
they've decided to rip off the bandaid and get the legislative part moved more
aggressively forward. And basically what itis is, in summary, any veteran

(01:33):
who served after nine to eleven iseligible for VA healthcare. And that's that's
huge. I mean, they've beeneligible before, but a lot of the
eligibility restrictions that affect that those veteranshave been have been removed because of the
Packed Act. The exposures to youknow, burn pits and nuclear weapons and
chemicals and agent orange. Same withour Vietnam veterans. And what's key about

(01:55):
the Vietnam veterans is the income thresholdthat some Vietnam veterans may have been told
they were not eligible for, whichyou know, you and I never could
understand why that's still there, right, that's gone. That's gone as well.
So my message is this, ifyou served after nine to eleven and
you're not enrolled in via healthcare,this is the time to do it.
Don't wait to the future when viahealth care and you need healthcare becomes the

(02:20):
only option and Vietnam veterans get getthis taken care of right away as well.
Plus get these claims filed for thesebenefits that our veterans are entitled to
for the exposures that the experience.And this is boots on the ground in
the States. Also Garden Reserve.If you had a line of duty where
you were sent off to, youknow, for a deployment for related to

(02:42):
nine to eleven combat missions, you'realso eligible as well. Oh wow,
and approximate cause is not necessary inthis We've talked before, you know,
proving that your exposure in during yourservice versus your exposure to anything you might
have done outside of service. It'snot the job of the ve veteran to
have to prove that one way oranother that is correct. You know,

(03:04):
they they know, they they've gotdocumented well documented. Now. Of course,
it takes a long time to documentthings and and identify these areas.
But yeah, I mean your locationsin the military, they know where these
these these different toxins were located,and you know, well documented where these
things are, and so you know, really there is no burden of proof
on the veteran. It's it's it'sin our system getting rolled and there's going

(03:30):
to be no complications with that enrollment. I think we talked about this before.
Agent Orange was one that you hadyou'd had dealt with in Vietnam,
and my recollection is the agent Orangelitigation didn't go anywhere and that whoever was
manufactured by DuPont won the civil litigationfor those exposed by agent Orange back in
the day. But they're still eligiblefor this type of benefit. Absolutely.

(03:52):
Yeah, I mean this, youknow, these are the healthcare sides of
things, and for the healthcare part, you know, you'll they're you know,
you just need to get seen,you need to get in our system.
And then with the benefits side ofthings when we file claim, Yeah,
agent oranges, you know, definitelyat the top of the list of
this as well as the burn pitsand all the listings of presumptive conditions.
I mean there's hundreds and hundreds ofthem. I can't necessarily go through them,

(04:13):
but there's hundreds of them that havethose presumptive conditions. I've also had
some some if there's any listeners whowere civilian contractors related to this stuff,
yes, I've found out that theirbest course of action is to go back
to the contractor that they work forand file workings compensation claim because they too,
even though they were not veterans,they were doing support missions at civilians,

(04:35):
They've been experiencing the same thing asour veterans, all right, So
that is a work related injury,and work related injuries when you're not military
are handled by workers' compensation, andwork related injuries are handled if you're for
the military by the VA Paktact.Perfect sense, different dentities private and military,
and of course different pathways to thesame place. Get yourself some benefits.

(04:58):
We're going to learn some details onthat, what the veterans need to
do, What are the minimum activityservice requirements for VA healthcare? Pause from
them, we'll bring back Todd's sledgeand talk about a few more details on
this, plus websites and phone numbersand information forty nine If you have carc
DE talk station around Thomas, thetodd Sledge and the since AVA boiling down
the entire message from todd Sledge,the since AVA is enrolled, just enroll.

(05:21):
You don't think you need the caretoday, you might need it tomorrow,
the next day, thirty years fromnow. Enroll and you'll have access
to this wonderful healthcare for life.Fun fact Todd I saw in the notes
here that VA has beaten non VAhospitals and quality ratings as well as patient
satisfaction ratings. VA understands their patients. They're the American veteran. Yeah,

(05:42):
absolutely, you know. That's oneof the things I always say, Brian,
is you know, you know wherecould you better? Where else could
you not go? Where? Youknow? People know veterans the best,
and that's us. And we steadilykeep at a ninety two to ninety three
percent trust score with the forty threeto forty veterans reserve a year. And
again the data is all comparable.You can find it online, you can

(06:05):
have access to it. You cansee our wait times. We do much
better than the private sector in alot of areas through VA Healthcare well.
And for those who had a badtaste in their mouth from prior service.
This is I mean the VA generallyspeaking. Remember Bob McDonald wasn't exactly known
for being on time and honoring appointments. You've done a great job oiling up

(06:27):
and improving the machine that is thesince AVA. Yeah. You know,
I used to say, Brillian thatit's not your grandfather's via anymore. I've
added to that, it's not onlyyour grandfather's via anymore. It's not your
father's via anymore, you know,because those just long history generations of folks
serving. But you can talk tothose veterans who have not come and seen
us for a while when they returnback, they say it's a completely different

(06:51):
place, and it really is.I mean, I'm going on my thirty
second year here in July, andI can tell you over the last twenty
years, especially the last fifteen,the VA's really made a lot of strides.
Well, that's wonderful news. Now, what do you what do the
veterans need to do specifically in termsof get in touch with the Eligibility Office
to take advantage of the Pack Actor just to simply sign up for these

(07:13):
wonderful benefits that they've earned. Well, everything that you've heard today, your
listeners have heard is that the minimumthe minimum active duty service requirement for the
Packed Act under VA Healthcare is twentyfour consecutive months. So if you were
on active duty orders or you werecalled to active duty for more than twenty
four consecutive months, the Pack Actapplies to you. With those eligibility things

(07:36):
that I mentioned, and it's realsimple. You call our wonderful Eligibility Office
of People at five one three fourseven five six four nine nine. That's
five one three four seven five sixtyfour nine nine. Talk to one of
our eligibility specialists about getting enrolled.Specifically, if you meet the criteria for
the PAC Act, tell them thatyou're calling about the Packed Act, and

(07:57):
then don't forget to also claim.That's enough. Claim work is not filed
through our healthcare part of it,but we have service officers at the facility.
We also have to have a Veteran'sBenefits Administration officer at the facility.
Or excuse me, Brian. Youcan also go to your county offices.
You can go to Claremont, youcan go to Butler, and you can

(08:18):
go to Hamilton and County Veteran ServiceCommission to FOLA claim you want to do
both, all right, I haveClambert County Veteran Services Butler County Veteran Services
on the program all the time.But they can help you with the PACDAC
claim is the is the bottom andthey can help you get the benefits from
the VA as well. Yes,they can. They can do both,
you know. Either way you canyou can get the healthcare package stuff that

(08:39):
I've talked about. But if youwant direct contact with us, call that
eligibility number five one three, fourseven, five six four nine nine.
So let's just say, VA appreciateyou passing along all the information real quick
here. The camps une exposure,is that separate from or is that just
one component of the packed act thatactually campl I'm Greg, I'm glad you
asked that camp is not part ofthe pack that okay? That is that

(09:01):
is that is definitely different. It'streated differently because because of its circumstances.
So great question, and I'm gladyou pointed that out. Because it is
separate from this pack deck legislation.I thought it was. I kept I
got confused from the commercials because Ijust thought it was one carve out since
there were so many people that youknow worked there or lived there for that

(09:24):
long period of time where the waterwas contaminated. What was it by uh,
dry cleaning materials or contaminants or somethingalong those lines. So, but
that's separate, is okay. I'mglad you clarified that for me as well
as the veterans out there listening.Five one, three, four seven,
five sixty four nine nine. Andthat's the Eligibility Office. Otherwise, Claremont
County Butler and Services, Butler CountyVeteran Services, the Hammond County Veteran Services,

(09:46):
all of which can help you getthe benefits and navigate a packed act
claim Todd's ledge thirty plus years witha VA. God bless you for what
you're doing each and every day.Keep up the great work and my best
of health to everyone at the Cincinntiva. Yep, thanks Brian. We appreciate
everything that you do. You've beentremendously helpful in helping us get the word
out. I'm blessed to be ina position to help the American veteran and

(10:09):
their families, Todd. I saythat with all sincerity. Goblins